Demand will outpace supply for technology jobs in 2014

By: | 8:18am EDT December 19, 2013

The fear is gone and employers are ready to hire, according to Rona Borre, founder and CEO at Instant Technology LLC.

“Over the past year, things have really opened up,” says Borre, whose firm specializes in IT staffing and recruiting. “Where technology used to be a cost expense, it’s really looked at in a very different light. It’s a thing that drives the business to make it go forward. CEOs are running their businesses very differently than they did five years ago.

“There is a huge demand for good technology talent and a very small shortage on supply right now. So for people wanting to move forward on projects, they are aggressively hiring. They know this is the key to their business and to their future.”

This demand is reflected in statistics compiled by Instant Technology. In Greater Chicago, job postings in the Web-based and databased technologies increased by 15.2 percent from 2011/2012 to 2012/2013. Postings in the data space jumped even more, by 222.6 percent during the same period.

“As big data is a newer technology, created to house and analyze the new forms of data tools are capturing (audio, video, image and others), it has been an incredibly large growth sector,” says Matt Brosseau, director of recruiting at Instant Technology.

Borre says in terms of skills, mobility is one of the biggest needs that companies will be looking to hire for in 2014.

“I even see a lot of Fortune 100 companies trying to grow out their teams and hire permanent labor in the space as opposed to contracting those types of positions out,” Borre says. “Secondly, security seems to be very big and continues to grow. There’s not a lot of talent in that space. A lot of companies are developing and working with their internal employees on getting them trained. So mobility, security and a lot of development.”

The days of looking to simply integrate new technology into your business are long gone. In 2014, technology is the lifeblood of every aspect of what your company does.

“Everything falls on technology departments to run their organization whether it’s analytics, infrastructure or the digital footprint,” Borre says. “All that stuff is a driving force for the future of business. Technology has really opened up and it’s a very aggressive marketplace right now.”

Move fast

Another thing that seems to be out the window, at least in the technology sector, is conducting multiple interviews with a job candidate.

“Right now, you have to hire talent quickly,” Borre says. “Candidates coming back in for three and four interviews doesn’t really happen anymore. They really try to condense it and get the candidates on board as quickly as possible.”

Companies are looking to be dazzled, but Borre says they also want people who can adapt quickly and think deeply about their business.

“They want people who have more than just technology experience, but also a lot of business acumen,” Borre says. “They want people who can whiteboard problems, who understand their business and who can utilize technology to enhance their business. More employers are beginning to have a strong business sense along with understanding technology.”

With demand high, the advantage rests with the candidate who is willing to learn. The good news for those seeking work is it doesn’t take long to get up to speed.

“You can go in for a month or two and get basic skill knowledge in mobile and Web and iOS and Android and really get an impact very quickly and probably get hired because the demand is so great,” Borre says. “Being trained and tooled is easier than ever. Some of the technologies are so new and people don’t have a lot of longevity. So getting involved as soon as possible can really benefit somebody and they can see more of an immediate impact than ever before.”